Didnt think I wanted a DMP, but think I might now

chevalier

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Here is the soa calculator that was mentioned above. If you format if for MSE and then copy and paste it here, we can give you some pointers on it. Or just do it for yourselves so that you have the information in one place for your interview on Monday.

I think I should just point out about secured and non secured debt.

Secured creditors should ALWAYS be paid before non secured creditors. So the mortgage and the car payment are secured debt and must be paid to avoid losing the asset. This is why DMP's are ONLY for non secured debt. (If you took out a loan and then bought a car that is different though to taking out car finance).

Then there are other priority debts that must be paid before anything else. These are council tax, utilities (not phone or mobile though, you don't NEED them to survive, water, heat and power you do).
need).

Then any money that is left after those payments have been met, can be paid to creditors. If there isn't enough to pay all non secured creditors after the mortgage, car payment and essential bills have been paid, that is when you need to consider a DMP.

I hope that you get sorted soon
chev

dancingfairy

Hi -sorry if I have misled you . I am lucky enough that I have never really been in debt in my life. Thankfully my parents taught me some money management skills but I appreciate that not everyone is so lucky. I feel that if I can pass on some of the things I have learnt to help other people then that's the best thing.
I also appreciate that despite my best efforts that I could also find myself in such a situation - loss of job, illness, debts run up by a partner etc etc so it is a reminder to me and to helpful to know that if I ever did find myself in such a situation there are people out there who would help me.
My 'advice' is garnered by reading what many, many people have written before on here and what they have reported.
Again I appologise if you thought I had been through a dmp.
Best of Luck with whatever you decide.
df

monday_blues

Hi everyone, thanks for all your support I really appreciate it, Dancing Fairy, you didnt mislead me at all, stupidly I just assumed - because of the forum title....but really appreciate everything you have said to me. I will put my soa on tomorrow, but wanted to say thanks to you all, and to say that for some reason I feel a bit calmer.... albeit nervous about telephone meeting with cccs on monday. done the online debt remedy tonight just for interests sake, and was surprised at some of the allowances i.e. over 300 pm for groceries, im currently trying to stick to 200 and sometimes dont have any money left after about 100, nor do i put anything aside for car maintenance,repairs, emergency, and loads else. perhaps you can all help me tomorrow (sunday) to complete my soa. thanks again, have a great saturday night everyone! x

monday_blues

Hi everyone, its late at night so I apologise, but thought i'd post my first version of soa which shows that i am paying 35 pm more to council tax as a wee bit behind, try to stick to 225 groceries per month. To be honest, am a wee bit confused as to whether I should post soa showing what I currently stick to/budget for, or whether I should be posting what I should be budgeting for according to the cccs debt remedy: Anyway here it is version 1: -
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1218
Benefits................................ 120
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2388
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 650
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 235
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 65
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 225
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 40
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 8.5
Buildings insurance..................... 22
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 66
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1774

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 190000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 193000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 140000...(650)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 140000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
abbey..........................9000......320.3.....0
barclaycard....................7000......80........0
barclaycard....................7000......80........0
next...........................600.......60........0
if.............................5000......80........0
nationwide.....................5000......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........33600.....720.3.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,388
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,774
Available for debt repayments........... 614
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 720.3
Amount short for making debt repayments. -106.3
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 193,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -140,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -33,600
Net Assets.............................. 19,400
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.ould be telling cccs i.e. a more realistic budget taking "all sections" into consideration. Please help, not too good at this part.... hence the money worries lol x

monday_blues

Here is V2 for you all to have a look at. Really confused as to what I should be showing i.e. what I am scrimping on now, or what should be a realistic budget. IE. we are behind on council tax although with their agreement paying 35 more pm = 235 till end of financial year instead of 200. then mortgage is on interest only, but really should be repayment - do I show the interest only figure or do i convert it back to repayment b4 going on cccs dmp. Not that I want to mislead anyone, but we are stripped right back at the moment and not paying proper amounts to things? Just not sure how it all works. Will try and reduce sky a bit more too. Please let me know what you all think, without being too hard! thanks in advance, Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1218
Benefits................................ 120
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2388
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 650
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 200
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 70
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 63
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 275
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 175
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 40
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 22
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 8.5
Buildings insurance..................... 22
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 66
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 1962

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 190000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 193000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 140000...(650)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 140000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
abbey..........................9000......320.3.....0
barclaycard....................7000......80........0
barclaycard....................7000......80........0
if.............................150.......0.........0
if.............................100.......0.........0
bos overdraft..................600.......10........0
next...........................600.......60........0
if.............................5000......80........0
nationwide.....................5000......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........34450.....730.3.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,388
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,962
Available for debt repayments........... 426
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 730.3
Amount short for making debt repayments. -304.3
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 193,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -140,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -34,450
Net Assets.............................. 18,550
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Standingtall

Hi Monday Blues. welcome to the forum and well done on making a positive start to dealing with your debts. I have been on DMP since last autumn and it is scarey not having a credit card to fall back on but this is very much out weighed by being able to sleep at night:j

Can I just throw in a word of caution about posting your SOA at this point. It is very important to bear in mind that you will now receive loads of advice on how to reduce your bills and where you are overspending. :T
However, the resulting figures should NOT be those given to CCCS as it is better submit something more in line with allowances they suggest for your DMP SOA in order to give yourself breathing space.

Another word of advice is to make only £1 token payments to your creditors for a couple of months, before starting your DMP, as this will allow you to build up an emergency fund.

Good luck:)

Bettingmad

Standingtall wrote: »

Hi Monday Blues. welcome to the forum and well done on making a positive start to dealing with your debts. I have been on DMP since last autumn and it is scarey not having a credit card to fall back on but this is very much out weighed by being able to sleep at night:j

Can I just throw in a word of caution about posting your SOA at this point. It is very important to bear in mind that you will now receive loads of advice on how to reduce your bills and where you are overspending. :T
However, the resulting figures should NOT be those given to CCCS as it is better submit something more in line with allowances they suggest for your DMP SOA in order to give yourself breathing space.

Another word of advice is to make only £1 token payments to your creditors for a couple of months, before starting your DMP, as this will allow you to build up an emergency fund.

Good luck:)

Totally agree with the advice re your SOA, people will give good advice on how to reduce outgoings, sometimes to the bone. This is all well and good if savings are able to be made which realistically prevents the IVA, DMP route.

However if you go down the DMP route, it's likely you will be in for the long haul.You need to set a realistic budget in line with allowable guidelines to make things as comfortable as possible. In my view it is better to have allowances which might mean the debt may take a year or two extra to pay off than cut to the bone with no room to manouvre.

As standing tall says, don't provide your SOA figures to CCCS, try to work out what are reasonable living expenses for each area and provide these figures.

I saw that you were asking about a joint or single DMP to save at least one of your credit worthiness. The problem that you have is that you have a joint loan. This will undoubtedly mean you are financially associated and will affect both of you regardless if only one of you go down the DMP route. You also have a mortgage, is this joint or single?

I was fortunate, all credit agreements and mortgage are in my name only, therefore I have been able to preserve my wifes credit history. Not that I tell her this though, well not until the debt is paid off in approx 5 yrs LOL

monday_blues

Thanks StandingTall and Betting Mad, I wondered what SOA to submit so your answers really help. An earlier poster answered that as my mortgage is interest only, a creditor couldnt really argue about basing on repayment (even the maximum term which ours is) as atpresent there is no way we can repay by retirement and the 6 years or whatever on a dmp will significantly worsen the mortgage scenario. What do you think, should my soa have my mortgage a bit higher (think it is £70-£100 more pm to convert back to repayment)?

Thanks Bettingmad re: single vs joint dmp. Makes sense I suppose - just cant believe we are in this position! The loan and the mortgage are joint, both with Santander.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

p.s. Can you save, even modest amounts, with a credit union while on dmp. Dont have a credit union account at the moment, but wonder if we should apply before setting up dmp?

Bettingmad

monday_blues wrote: »

Thanks StandingTall and Betting Mad, I wondered what SOA to submit so your answers really help. An earlier poster answered that as my mortgage is interest only, a creditor couldnt really argue about basing on repayment (even the maximum term which ours is) as atpresent there is no way we can repay by retirement and the 6 years or whatever on a dmp will significantly worsen the mortgage scenario. What do you think, should my soa have my mortgage a bit higher (think it is £70-£100 more pm to convert back to repayment)?

Thanks Bettingmad re: single vs joint dmp. Makes sense I suppose - just cant believe we are in this position! The loan and the mortgage are joint, both with Santander.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

p.s. Can you save, even modest amounts, with a credit union while on dmp. Dont have a credit union account at the moment, but wonder if we should apply before setting up dmp?

In my opinion you should definately get your mortgage back on a repayment if you are set to go down the DMP route. It's a priority debt so the full ammount get's paid. If that means your DMP takes longer, so what, at least you know that your mortgage will get paid off and there one less big worry out of the way come the end of your mortgage.

Re the credit Union, another I would definately do prior to going on DMP (This is what I did). Credit Unions do search your file, to what extent I don't know.

If you are going to go with a DMP, as Standingtall said, make token payments to your creditors. I would suggest you do three to get you back on track with other issues and also saving a small emergency fund. I knw people want to start making their first full payments on a DMP straight away, but trust me you will be glad to have put a small ammount asside in case of life's small emergencies.

If you commence full payments straight away you will have no room to manouvre if an unexpected bill comes your way. I can say that I did not have any extra problems from my creditors by making three token payments at the start. By God I'm glad I dd because I encountered a big bill for my car at the stat.

You will need to be firm with CCCS regarding the few token payments. Remember it's your plan and you will be in control. When making token payments I kept all my creditors up to date with monthly letters followed up by phonecalls. I firmly believe that this prevented the numerous calls I was expecting, I recieved just one uninitiated and that was from egg who were no trouble. In fact when speaking to the creditors on the phone they were all as nice as pie when I told them I had sought help (I'm with payplan)

The biggest step is seeking help, I put it off two years too late in reality, worrying about my credit rating. Now I don't give a damn because I will be debt free in five years as opposed to being beholden to the banks making minimum payments for 30+ years. Once you start to think positive abount you position it all becomes a lot easier.

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you want, we are all here to help and theres no such thing as a stupid question.

Another thing you may want to do if you have online accounts is to buy a PAYG sim card, load a little bit of credit on in and update your online details with your new phone number deleting any other ones you may have given.:D

One more thing I would speak initially to both CCCS and Payplan to see what figures of repayment they suggest, then go for the one thats suits you are best. You are not commited to either until you sign the proposals and send them back.

monday_blues

Thanks that's great I have set up a new bank account, I will do online token payments to creditors tonight and will apply to credit union - hope they accept us though, hate the embarrassment of knock backs - makes you feel like a second class citizen.

I will phone Santander and get a repayment amount and will quote that to CCCS tomorrow instead of the interest only we are doing at present.

Do you think I should contact our contract phones with Orange and ask for 2 new numbers, and then copy all our contacts over, to avoid getting unwanted harrassing phone calls?

Thanks so much,